Pastor Caroline - What the Lord Requires

 

What the Lord Requires

 

The message today is from the book of Micah.

I am writing from Chapter 6 Verses 6 to 8 and it is in fact entitled in the Good News Bible; What the Lord Requires.

 

(6) What shall I bring to the Lord, the God of heaven, when I come to worship him? Shall I bring the best calves to burn as offerings to him?

(7) Will the Lord be pleased if I bring him thousands of sheep or endless streams of olive oil? Shall I offer him my first born child to pay for my sins?

(8) No, the Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.

 

This instruction is so simply put you cannot possibly miss the message of what God requires. He requires us;

(1) to do what is just

(2) to show constant love

(3) to live in humble fellowship with our God.

 

Now I ask you, if the world and all the people followed this instruction to the letter, what do you suppose our world would look like today? I suspect we would have better living conditions for all people regardless of status. God doesn’t want our sacrifices, He wants our commitment to live peacefully with others, love as He loves, and be humble in our ways and attitude towards others, resembling the character of Jesus. When we accomplish this on a daily basis people will see Christ in us, and therefore want to be a Christian. God wants us to be more like His Son, Jesus.

 

When we live as God requires us to do – we will see the benefit of leaning on Him at all times. We must become dependent on Him, pray and ask Him to direct us every day in the things He requires of us. It will not always be easy to be just and fair, show constant love, and be humble in fellowship with God and our fellowman. We will need God to bring us up a level, especially when we fall below His expectations of our behavior. Sometimes we will certainly not measure up and when we need discipline and direction to bring us back on track, He provides.

 

We should be ever thankful for the people God puts in our life to keep us accountable. When we look back hopefully we can see our journey was not always of our own doing. People helped us along the way, just as God intended. He puts us in the lives of others to do the same, help them along the way. Help your fellowman, family, friend or stranger, to become more than they see themselves being, just as someone has done for you. Remember we are all in this life together, and together we can make life better when Jesus is our leader and we follow His examples of what God requires of us.

 

I would say Micah was a wise prophet, with wise instruction for us. It certainly would be good for us to pay close attention to the message the Lord is sharing with us today. And please remember to give thanks for all the blessings God gives us which include the best instruction for us to have a fruitful life.

 

So let’s all do our best to do what the Lord requires of us. May we do what is just, show constant love, and live humbly in the fellowship with our God.

 

Have a blessed day in our Lord, and enjoy the people who are in your company.